Owl-O-Ween

Kennesaw State University Sports + Entertainment Park is proud to host the annual Owl-O-Ween Hot Air Balloon Festival October 27 – 28, 2017. This is Atlanta’s only hot air balloon event, and is also billed as Atlanta’s Largest Oktoberfest and Costume Party.

This visually spectacular event attracts more than 50,000 attendees each year and features tethered hot air balloon rides and live entertainment on three stages.

Attendees are encouraged to come in costume, especially those planning to participate in the hot air balloon trick-or-treating experience, which will allow patrons to go from balloon to balloon gathering candy along the way.

The festival will be located at the KSU Sports and Entertainment Park, taking advantage of the 88-acre facility, transforming the beautiful space into a mystical wonderland, and the 8,300 seat stadium into an electric space that will be sure to fascinate. “The beauty of hot air balloons glowing in the night really can’t be described…this is a must see experience,” said Andrew Miller, president of Promotions Marketing – AeroSports, whose company co-produces the event, and coordinates all sponsorships and hot air balloons for Owl-O-Ween.

Tickets are available at www.ticketalternative, www.owl-o-ween.com, at Kennesaw State University’s on-campus bookstore or at the KSU Stadium box office open M-F from 9am to 5pm. The KSU Stadium box office information line is: 470-578-4849

The cost to enter the festival was reasonable…$12 if you bought ahead, $8/5 if you are a KSU student…included all the street shows, games, and candies! However, one disappointing part was the hot air balloon ride…aside 2+ hours of waiting in line…it is $10 per adult…I thought I heard the ride would be about 5 minutes long?? I guess that includes 5-7 people trying to climb in and out of the basket at the same time, which could easily take 5 minutes depending on # of people and how efficient they are at stepping and hurdling over the basket. We were squeezed in (the basket is not that big), went up (tethered of course), stayed up in the air for about 1 minute (just long enough to take 3 pictures), and that was it! What a disappointment it was!! People, do not bother with it! I don’t think it was worth the wait and extra $.

I have mixed feelings as It could be so much more. What happened to the Halloween spirit? I thought there would be a much better turnout for people wearing costumes. Sure a lot of little kids had costumes on and that was great but all you adults were really dissapointing. Definitley not Atlantas largest costume party as advertised.
Maybe next year offer a discount to people who made a real effort to participate and dress up.

Enjoyed all the performances I caught and the hot air ballon was good. Yes line was a little long but c’mon how often you going to get to go up in a ballon for $10.

We purchased our tickets through Groupon, when we arrived at the festival site the waiting time for Groupon tickets was 4 hours, for an event that was only 5 hours long. They were so disorganized that we could not see the end of the line, there was no one to advise you where to go or what the procedure was. after purchasing the tickets, we could not even stay for , as we had a baby with us. What are huge let down, I hope going forward they get better organized.

This event was a disaster! It took two hours to get into the stadium, including the hour spent trying to park the car in the lot I pre-paid for which turned out to be full. We ended up parking so far away we had no choice but to catch a shuttle. I had two children, a 4yo & 5yo. The shuttle arrived 30 minutes later. By the time we got into the stadium, trick or treating was over. The food lines were crazy long. After waiting 20 minutes & finally getting to the front. They ran out of pizza. No candy, no balloon ride & no pizza. For $70 this night was definitely not a winner. I’d ask for a refund but obviously no one is in charge of this monstrosity

This event was amazing! I bought out tickets on the Owl-O-Ween web site and it did cost an extra $10 in fees but we parked in the walkable lot that was actually walkable. We were able to print out our tickets from home and go straight to the main entrance. There was a long line at the groupon and will call stations. Saving the $3 per ticket for my wife and I wasn’t worth it. I am very glad that we used the event web site to purchase our tickets. As for all the costumes the adult participation was a little low for our expectations but it did make our family stand out even more. Maybe offering a slight discount, or even something free inside for adult participation would draw more people to join in the festivities. The food Vendors were amazing, they also had vendors giving away healthier snacks and that was a huge plus for us. The entertainment was incredible. Lots of acts with fire, ice carving, great gymnasts, and the LED music performers were the best. The line for the hot air balloons was very long but very expected. Not very many people get the chance to ride a hot air balloon for $15 so this was their chance and they had to wait to get it. It is what it is. If you planned ahead of time and are realistic there is no way someone could walk away from this event unhappy. My family and i live 2 hours away and will make it to all future Owl-O-Ween events. Anyone wanting a good family friendly place to go for an unforgettable experience I suggest going to the Owl-O-Ween.

For me and my family it would be $70 which includes parking. That is two children and two adults. That is just to get in the door! We can’t do that. I will be telling everyone how expensive this event is, so maybe next year they will have discount tickets or free parking! $20 parking is bad for downtown! There are vendors and food to buy in this event, but no one can afford it! I have from 20 to 35 clients per week. So I can tell about 60 people before next weekend.

Just say no. Our family is an easy going bunch who don’t need all the glitter and lights to have fun. We arrived around 8pm, to traffic. LOADS of traffic. Backed up for a good 20 minutes only to find the event was terribly organized. Parking, which was prepaid, was full. After finding parking we entered fairly quickly giving us hope for the event. Our dreams of hot air balloons and fun festival activities were dashed immediately by the crowd. The amount of people shoved into that space was unbelievable. You could barely move and the few choices of food vendors guaranteed a 20-25 minute wait to pay 30 bucks for 3 lemonades and a chicken finger basket. Not to mention, the balloons were being deflated when we arrived. This was a big “NO, not ever again” for us.